Southern Longing

Usually when springtime comes along, so does my longing to be in the south again. And please don't argue with me- Virginia is NOT the south:-) We always tend to visit Adam's parents in Charlotte, NC during the most absolutely gorgeous weekends possible. The weather is always perfect and we always leave feeling refreshed, relaxed......and not wanting to come back to Virginia. So was the case this past weekend. We started off our journey Thursday night with a refreshing trip to Bojangles. We decided that for best results, Bojangles should only be consumed in North Carolina or Tennessee. Now, please don't judge me on this one- I haven't had friend chicken and french fries in over a month due to my new cholesterol regimen. This was just my little reward for absolutely nothing:-) On Friday, we were able to share lunch with a few of Adam's friends and then spent Friday night hanging out with LeeAnna and Justin, who have now lived in Charlotte about 6 months. Most of our time Saturday was spent either eating or shopping, where I was constantly reminded of the south with the southern blondes trying to sell me things I couldn't afford in the boutiques or being overwhelmed with NC State paraphernalia at Dicks Sporting Goods. I got the "official" Charlotte city-tour by Brent and Teri and saw little glimpses of where Adam grew up. I also saw some of the largest/most massive homes in the downtown "old money" section. It is there that I decided that there is absolutely no way these people need this much of a house. (Well, unless they have 15 kids.. and then I will give them a large house). While driving, I saw one of these aforementioned large homes with a "Moving Sale" sign inside. I really HATE yard sales and all things antique-y but I persuaded everyone to stop. We enter into a grimy old house that has been divided into apartments and this "Moving Sale" is really just a scary old lady trying to sell crap (there is no better word to describe it) out of her home. She told us to just look around and anything was up for grabs. We survived... but barely. We had dinner with Adam's parents Saturday night and then headed home sadly. Abby and I used to call this type of experience "Post Party Depression". It happens when you are either traveling and you have to head home or are hosting guests and everyone leaves. Either way, it's not a fun time. I'm looking forward to summer trips that can't come soon enough!

Time Is Tickin Away

.....tick tick tickin away. Who can name remember that wonderful DC Talk song?

Unfortunately, DC talk flashbacks are not the highlight of my blog post tonight. TIME is (or the lack thereof). The cover of Real Simple this month has in big bold letters, "More Time For You'. How glorious and appealing that sounds! Too bad I don't actually have time to sit down and read about how to give me more time. And I know I'm totally not alone. Our church did a big series of Sabbatizing (aka: taking a Sabbath) and it totally hit on the fact that society makes us feel as if we are not worthy human beings if we are not constantly doing something. Heaven forbid that you just come home from work one night and sit, watch TV, and go to bed by 9pm. We did well for a little while; making sure that we took a couple of nights out of the week to relax and have "family time", but we've slowly gone back into our old habits. My main question for you is

"Is it always going to be like this????"

Is there ever going to be a morning when you wake up and don't immediately want to go back to sleep because you are so exhausted?
Is there ever going to be a morning (or evening) when you feel like you got a quality quiet time with God?
Will my dog ever got a decent walk that lasts more than a mile?
Will I ever be on time or even EARLY for an event?

I mean, I'm going crazy here and I only have Adam and I to take care of:-) I can't imagine throwing an entire family into this chaos.

I realize that I can fix this however with a few simple steps.
1. My hairdresser is going to come over every morning and help me get ready for work. Megan does fabulous hair:-)
2. My breakfast, lunch, and dinner are going to be cooked by my own celebrity chef who has a specialty for low-cholesterol dishes.
3. For job transportation, I will either take a commuter van or hire a personal driver. This will give me an extra 2 1/2 hours/day to catch up on emails, read a book, or catch up on sleep. That might be the most glorious life ever.
4. At night, since I won't be exhausted from my drive and I won't have to cook, I'll be free to actually hang out (not just on the weekend), exercise, or walk the dog (if the dog sitter hasn't already done it for the day).

And while I'm at it, I'm going to extend my 2 weeks/year vacation plan to at least 2 months/year. Who's brilliant idea was it anyways to only give someone 2 weeks off out of a total of 52?

So anyways, that's my perfect life:-) Right now I actually do have time to blog since Adam is studying for his credentialing license for the Assemblies of God church. He takes a nice big test tomorrow morning and if he passes, his new name will be Reverend Adam Michael Reuss. haha. hilarious.

Hardwood Help!

I know this is a weird request, but does anyone have a good suggestion for cleaning hardwood floors? Some people tell you to only use water, some say don't use water, and some say to only use a special hardwood floor cleaner. I'm so confused and my floor is in desperate need of a good spring cleaning! Any suggestions are appreciated!!

The Last Word

This week was one of those weeks where the first thing I think about when I wake up is, "Where should I get my coffee from today?". I'm truly not THAT much of a coffee drinker, I'd say about 3 cups/week. And when Adam gets up in the mornings with me, he does usually make a mean cup of java for me. Well he had small group bright and early this morning and I was running late for work as usual. So for my hour-long car ride to work, I kept thinking about how the ladies in the office make like 15 pots/days and I have one of those gigantic Coffeemate flavored creamers in the fridge (Vanilla Caramel to be exact:-)). So when I go to the fridge, imagine my surprise when my precious vanilla caramel is gone. Now, this has happened before, but the other lady who finished off the bottle actually told me so I could buy some more. Now I buy the big ones for the office for a purpose. Because I only use like 1/8th of the whole thing and I don't mind sharing. But I like for there to be actually be some left for me when it's time for me to use it! So what do I do? I take the other creamer that belongs to someone else (and who I am almost 100% sure is my caramel vanilla thief). It just so happens to be the end of her bottle and so I finish it up and put it back in the fridge. empty.
Now why did I do that? Because I wanted to make a silly childish statement for nothing other than personal satisfaction and having the last word. Adam came across a similiar situation last week when a guy on Mountain Trader emailed him and told him he was asking to much for these used boots he was trying to sell. Adam wrote a lovely email back with smart alec response, basically to only have the last word. Don't worry, he very much regrets it and has since repented of it:-) What is the big deal in our society that it's so important to have the last word? So anyways,the empty coffeemate container is still in the fridge (and I really do smile when I think about it:-)) but we're trying to do better about having the last word. Today was just a stepback:-)

Wicked Weekend

I love girl time! I'm so thankful and appreciative that my mom and Abby each made the long haul to Virginia this past weekend for "Girls Weekend" as Adam so lovingly referred to. He had to go up to Northern VA for a class so it left the girls to do our thing. Here's a weekend recap: Thursday night, mom and Abby arrived safely. We hung out at the house, I cooked a mexican fiesta, and everyone (excluding me, cause I could care less:-)) watched March Madness basektball.


Denali greeting everyone! Props to Abby for putting up with him the whole weekend:-)


Friday we headed to Williamsburg for some outlet shopping and a yummy dinnner at the Blue Talon Bistro. For some strange reason, we had HORRIBLE waiters all weekend. No one wanted to ever bring us bread! Does this say something about us???





And oh yeah, I got a nosering about a week ago:-) Mom refuses to call it a nosering. She prefers "nose stud".


Saturday consisted of a filling breakfast at Cracker Barrell, Target, and relaxing before the big night! We had Wicked tickets for the Landmark Theatre at 8pm, however we ALMOST missed it due to our SLOW service at Europa. Seriously people, we tip good if you deserve it! We raced to the theatre, with my out-of-town cousin driving the wrong direction down Cary St., with my mom tripping up the steps at the theatre, and sat down with 3 minutes before the show started. Panting and sweating all the way. Wicked was FABULOUS and I'm so happy the show came to Richmond!









Mom and Abby had to get up early Sunday morning for the drive, but it was so nice to have a piece of Cleveland up here in Virginia. Visitors are welcome anytime!

What Did We Do???

Denali is officially 8 1/2 months old and has never had a haircut. I've never owned a dog before that needed actually grooming, but apparently long-haired dogs need that or they end up with looking like a hippie with dreadlocks. After we kept finding mats in his hair, we knew it was time for the big day. We scheduled an appointment today and just picked him up from his new 'do'...

....And we didn't even know it was our dog. Adam and I were both speechless when they brought him out. (And NOT in a good way!) We had specifically told them we didn't want him to look like a poodle... and out prances a poodle. I actually cried when I got in the car. Our car ride home was pretty much silent, except for the occasional, "Well, I could just trim him up around the mouth" or "Keep smiling, dogs can sense feelings" or "I CAN'T BELIEVE we paid this much for THIS?". Adam made me promise that I wouldn't do any snipping/touch ups today. Here's the before picture:




And the after picture:




We honestly don't mind the back of him so much because his hair is incredibly soft and hopefully this will cut down on the shedding. But the front is outta control!! We were almost embarrassed to get him out of the car because we thought the neighbors would see! I can't wait for it to grow out again. Also, this has been such a eventful week for Denali. He graduated from dog school, FINALLY! This was an 8- week course we started Dog Lover's Obedience School back in November and we're just NOW finishing. Due to snow, holidays, and funerals, 20 weeks later, we're finally done. Tomorrow, he is getting neutered. Can we make our dog any more girlier in one weekend?? It's gotta be too much for the precious thing to take:-)

Millionaire Matchmaker

Since Adam and I don't have cable and fancy things like TiVo:-), my mind is usually spared of all the ridiculousness that comes along with cable television. That is, unless I am running. I don't enjoy running outside.... give me a treadmill with a TV 2 feet in front of my face and I can usually go for miles. And since we normally do most of our running in the wee hours of the night, the really "good stuff" is on. Lately I've been hooked on a show on Bravo called "Millionaire Matchmaker".



Quality, huh? This lady's purpose is to hook millionaires up with people that are looking to marry into money (Now, they don't actually come out and say that but let's be honest). And call me gullible, but I actually thought Patti had some morals since she doesn't believe in living with boyfriends before marriage and no "relations" on the first date. The other night they featured a 40-something millionaire who kinda looked like George Castanza off of Seinfeld. He was the nicest guy and I was so impressed when he asked his flight-attendant date about her religion 3 minutes into their dinner date. He was very adamant with Patti that he couldn't date anybody that wasn't a Christian. HOWEVER, he also wouldn't deny that he wouldn't have "relations" before marriage. (That drives me crazy on a whole different level!) In the end, the lady was Jewish and that was a big dealbreaker for Castanza. Patti the matchmaker was quoted later saying "I think it's sad that religion has to be a dealbreaker for so many relationships today". Oh, Patti, you really do know your stuff, don't you?

On a completely different note-- has anybody else seen the OnStar commercial (also seen while I was on the treadmill) about a stolen vehicle. It takes place on I-95 S right in downtown Chattanooga! A little representation of home:-).